


Psittacine

by Ghostwood



Series: There's Lots of World Out There [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: (theyre hardly even in it dw), Aliens, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Avian Charles | Grian, Blood and Injury, Charles | Grian Angst, Multi, Spaceships, The Watchers - Freeform, The Watchers as antagonists, Watcher Charles | Grian, Winged Charles | Grian, i honestly dont know a lot about watchers so some stuff is changed for this story, more hermits to be added later on!, original character as antagonist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostwood/pseuds/Ghostwood
Summary: Grian had been stuck with the Watchers for a long time. When he finally took advantage of an escape opportunity provided to him, he successfully fled in an escape pod and left his old life behind.Now stranded in space, Grian has nothing to rely on except for the kindness of two strangers, and the hope that there's some other place for him in the galaxy.(A Hermitcraft sci-fi AU)
Relationships: Charles | Grian & Viktor | Iskall85, Oliver Brotherhood & Charles | Grian, Oliver Brotherhood & Charles | Grian & Viktor | Iskall85
Series: There's Lots of World Out There [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147637
Comments: 12
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For a smidgen of context: Grian is a bird alien/human hybrid. He has wings, bird legs, and a long, feathered prehensile tail, as well as some small feathers around his face. Anything else is up for creative interpretation :>

_Left turn, end of the hall._ Grian internally flinched at any click that his claws made against the floor. This corner of the ship was silent, which was nearly as eerie as if it was bustling with sound. Custos could move quiet, quieter than Grian, and if Custos was onto him, then Grian likely wouldn’t even hear it until it was too late.

_Right turn here_ . Grian really, _really_ hoped he had remembered the ship’s layout properly. His skin itched where his black-dyed feathers stood on end, and a cold sweat was gathering between the base of his wings. If he was paying any attention to his hands, he’d see them shaking.

He’d never be let this far out from the Watcher’s influence again if he got caught now. For just a second, he thought about turning around now, before he went through with his escape. He shook the thought off just as quickly. He wasn’t going to get a better chance than this– a building job assigned to him, taking him to a planet outside the Watcher’s reign, and passing right by an asteroid field in neutral territory. Everything aligned perfectly, so long as he could manage to get an escape pod without Custos catching him. If he was lucky enough, he might not even know before Grian was gone.

Grian turned the last corner and nearly cried with relief. A row of doors stood along the wall, all leading to individual escape pods. Grian went to the panel to the right of the door, pressing a button to open it, and–

…

It was… Locked. The perfect opportunity for escape, and it was _locked_. Grian felt like throwing up. 

He- He’d tried so _hard_ for this, months of pretending like he was dedicated to the Watchers, like he wasn’t looking for an escape at every turn, and here he was. Stuck in front of a single locked door, on the verge of panic. He can’t go back to how he’s been living, Watcher eyes and ears around every corner, the only future one where he builds and builds and _builds_ , black and purple surrounding him, always, and–

_What was that?_ Grian’s head snapped to the side at the faintest rustle of fabric, and his heart dropped down into the void of space. If his feathers hadn’t already all been on end, they would have been now. 

Custos stood no more than several meters away, eyes obscured under the Watcher’s mask, but mouth in a visibly strained smile.

“Grian.” His tone would have almost sounded jovial, if not for the hostility in the line of his stance, “Why, I didn’t think I’d find you _here_ , of all places. Would you mind telling me what you’re up to, exactly?”

Grian swallowed. He tried to think up some excuse– anything, anything really, that would make some amount of sense– but all thought had departed him. He didn’t think he could summon up his own name if asked, honestly. 

Custos’s mouth began to twitch down at the edges as the silence grew longer. He sighed, stalking forward, large, clawed hand outstretched, likely to drag Grian back to his room– or possibly even the brig, at this point– but Grian– 

Grian _moved_. Without even thinking about it, Grian shoved the arm aside and aimed a strong kick at Custos’s stomach in the same motion, sending him back a few feet.

Both paused, silent and staring. Grian, panting and with wings billowed out behind him, while Custos regained his composure, regarding Grian calmly as if he hadn’t even been hit.

Custos moved forward, slower this time. Grian could see one of his hands resting near the stun rod he kept on his belt, and his heartbeat rocketed again. “Come now, Grian, let’s go back before you do something you’ll regret, hm?” He inched closer, resting a hand on Grian’s shoulder. He squeezed it momentarily, just on the edge of painful. 

Maybe Custos had a point. But Grian wasn’t really one for regret, not when he was _so close_ this time. There had to be a way out.

In between one breath and another, Grian’s tail whipped around one of Custos’ legs, yanking him to the ground with an aborted shout. Grian lunged for his stun rod, claws scrabbling against the handle, but Custos was quick, too. He jerked the rod away from Grian with one hand, rising quickly and pinning Grian to the ground with the other. Grian’s hands immediately came up to grip Custos’s arm. It hardly budged.

Custos looked about to say something when Grian kicked up suddenly towards his face. Grian’s talons caught skin, and the Watcher’s mask clattered to the floor along with a splatter of blue blood. 

Their eyes met. Grian could feel warm blood drip from his talons, and he wondered if that was one mistake too many. 

Custos’ face, now marred by three parallel scratches, was _furious_. Grian lashed out in an attempt to land a second blow, but Custos moved faster this time, jabbing the stun rod into Grian’s side. 

Grian made a strangled hiss as the electricity buzzed under his skin. His muscles spasmed painfully– but when it stopped, he was still conscious– and though shaky– he could clench a fist. It hadn’t been at a very high setting, then. He took heaving breaths as Custos pulled him to his feet, ready to drag him away. 

This was his last chance.

As soon as Grian got his footing, he shoved at Custos. He nearly unbalanced himself by doing so, but it had its desired effect– Custos snarled, aiming to stab at him with the rod again- but this time, Grian’s tail grabbed the handle of it, and he grabbed it with his hands, too, and shoved it back towards him. Custos hadn’t expected it, but he was still strong, and pushed it away at the very last second. So instead, the rod went straight through the panel for the escape pod door.

The stun rod sparked briefly from where it was lodged in the screen. There was a pause, during which a hydraulic hiss signalled the opening of a door. The door that Grian was going to go through _now, now_ , _no matter what_ –

Grian used the moment of confusion the opening door had created to drop his hold on the rod and throw himself backward into the now-open escape pod. Custos hissed, yanking the rod out of the panel and lunging towards Grian– but not before Grian slammed a hand down on the button to close the door. It shut with a sound of crunching metal as the stun rod aimed for Grian caught in the door and was crushed in half, electricity fizzing out as the half clattered to the ground. Grian could just barely hear a roar of rage on the other side.

He… He did it! _He did it_ , oh by the stars and _everything_ – _He did it!_

Grian slumped against the wall, and let himself feel the rush of pure hope and relief for just a moment, a wild giggle escaping him. But, he still had to get out of there. He practically flew to the controls– hurriedly tapping in his destination, the planet just past the asteroid belt he was launching himself into, and with a final confirmation screen, he was… He was _free_.

Grian gripped the sides of the control terminal. His legs shook, and his wings were disheveled and drooped on the ground, but he smiled. There was a sound of a release mechanism– engines, a quake of the pod’s walls– and then he was watching the belt of asteroids approach. Beyond that, the rest of the galaxy was waiting.

Grian reached up, carefully removing the Watcher mask from his face. He felt a proper laugh bubbling up now, joyous and perhaps a tiny bit hysterical– but mostly just happy relief. He dropped the mask to the floor, stepping pressure onto it until it broke down the middle. He’d never felt more free.

–––


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Yes, it's only been a day– but I had the next chapter mostly written already and wanted to get it out there. Hope you enjoy!! :>>

Grian had started feeling more and more like putty the further he’d gotten from the Watcher vessel. He almost still couldn’t believe he’d just done...  _ any _ of that. With the adrenaline beginning to wash away, the presence of a number of bruises and the burn the stun rod had left him were beginning to make themselves known. If he had his way, he would just curl up somewhere on the floor right now and take a long, long nap.

Ahead, though, the asteroid belt had to be piloted through manually. So instead of resting, Grian heaved a sigh, turned the navigation to manual, and took to the controls with still-shaky hands. He just had to make it through the asteroids. It would be  _ fine _ .

–––

After nearly seventeen hours of on-and-off piloting, Grian decided that it was not, actually, fine. 

He longed for rest, or any sort of reprieve from the endless twists and turns as he made his way through the belt. If he never had to see another asteroid in his life, it would be too soon.

Every few hours, when he did curl up in the chair and make an attempt at rest, he was instead plagued by half-lucid dreams of Custos somehow catching up to him, more Watchers in tow. Or of blue blood on talons, or the burn in his side. 

Well, the burn had been real. It certainly wasn’t the worst Grian had had before, but it was an angry shade of red and blistered, and it was impossible to ignore when he had nothing else to pay attention  _ to _ . So, he kept going. 

–––

Most asteroids were slow-moving enough that when Grian napped, he could set the thrusters to move in the same direction as them at a low speed and not have to worry about being hit. 

_ Apparently _ , though, this was not entirely the case, because at about twenty-three hours in, the entire pod jolted with a thundering bang. 

Grian fell out of his seat, hard, suddenly wide awake. There was a visibly deformed area on the wall behind him now, and he frantically swiped through screens on the terminal to see what had been hit.

The… Grian couldn’t believe this.

_ Fuel reserves: Offline. _

The words blurred as he read them, again and again, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. 

He might not have been jettisoned out into the void of space, but stranded in a ship with  _ no fuel _ may have been arguably worse. 

And after all it took to get to this point. Grian choked on a sob. It morphed into a shout as he punched the nearest wall, hard. Distantly, he thought he might have broken his hand a little with the crunch he heard– but he wasn’t in the mind to care. Grian curled his tail and wings around himself as he collapsed onto the floor. His luck had finally run out.

–––

Grian stirred, brought to consciousness by a persistent buzzing sound. He squinted his tacky eyes open, almost sure the sound was coming from his own head, but he unraveled himself from his wings and pulled himself back into the chair anyways. He was abruptly reminded of the damage he did to his hand when he tried to curl it into a fist. He bit down a whine and took slow breaths until the pain faded somewhat. 

To distract himself, he looked at the screen of the controls, and then did a double-take.

_ SR Coms: Incoming Connection. Accept? Y / N. _

The short range comms... Grian was suddenly much more awake. This could be the Watchers, maybe they caught up to him and wanted to… What? Ask him to come back? ...No, if they were already that close, they could just get him, no need to communicate first. And they shouldn’t have been able to get to him anyways, not in the asteroids, and not in that amount of time. This was… most likely someone else, then. Though Grian wasn’t sure he trusted them, no matter who they were.

The buzzing continued. Should he accept?

...There was nothing else he could do, not really. Grian pressed “ _ Y _ .”

“. _..Hallo? _ ” A staticky, accented voice filled the pod. Grian jumped a little at the sound. " _ Pod vessel, do you read me? _ "

Grian hesitated, curling into himself. He didn’t recognize the voice, but he couldn’t help his mind from conjuring every worst-case scenario. It  _ could _ possibly still be a Watcher. Maybe they were trying to get his guard down by using someone he didn’t recognize– but what if it wasn’t them? But it could be. He just  _ didn’t know _ –

The voice cycled through greetings in several different languages when Grian remained silent. That was one point to them  _ not _ being the Watchers, but until Grian knew for sure, he refused to reply.

When Grian still didn’t answer, he could hear what sounded like a muffled conversation on the other end, before the voice returned, back to speaking common Galactic, “ _ Pod, we’re picking you up. We’re just asteroid miners, so please don’t attack. _ ” Gods, Grian hoped they were just that, “ _ I repeat, we’re picking up your vessel. You look like you could use the help. Please do not attack. Do you read me? _ ” 

Grian remained silent. “ _ Okay… _ ” The voice went muffled again as it sounded like they turned to speak to somebody else, but the communication channel remained open. It was slightly reassuring.

Grian waited for a short while before the voice filtered back in, “ _...Alright, pulling you in now. _ ”

Sure enough, as soon as the voice said so, Grian felt a vibratory hum go through the pod as something began pulling it in. Into a  _ ship _ . Grian shivered. He couldn’t trust them, not yet. Not even if they sounded like authentic and very kind asteroid miners. There was no guarantee that they weren’t Watchers.

By the time the pod had abruptly come to a stop– supposedly inside a ship now, and with the communication channel now closed– Grian was back to panicking. His heart beat in his throat and he wondered  _ why he had thought this was a good idea at all _ , it was clearly  _ the worst idea–  _ and his head continued running in terrible circles as he sat against the wall furthest from the door. The broken-off piece of stun rod was in the white-knuckled grip of his right hand, (left one still throbbing at his side) though his hands were so shaky–  _ again _ – from both the lack of sleep and adrenaline that it was really quite dubious if he could fight off literally anything right now. The only thing he had in his favor was his wings, every feather on end, appearing very large and, hopefully, at least slightly intimidating.

A  _ thump _ sound from outside the pod made Grian flinch. A second later, he could hear a voice calling through. The same one as before, but with less static now, “Hallo? If you can hear me, we’re going to break open the door! Unless you can open it from inside, which would be… really a lot easier!”

...Grian glanced over at the terminal, but stayed in place. If he was going to be taken back to the Watchers, he was at least going to put it off as long as possible.

Grian thought he might have heard a sigh on the other side, and the voice was talking to someone else again. Suddenly, there was a horrible sound of tearing metal by the door, making Grian flinch. 

A moment passed, and the door grated open. Grian’s hand quivered as he held out the broken rod like a weapon, trying to squeeze himself even further back into the wall. 

A… A human stepped in. They had some sort of diasteel eyepiece, a brown beard, and… They were wearing a plain green shirt and vest. Grian made eye contact with them. There was no mask, no symbol– and even though they looked to be armed, with a gun on their belt, they raised their hands in a placating gesture, not even reaching for their weapon. 

_ They weren’t a Watcher. _

A questioning voice came from outside, but all Grian heard was static. They weren’t a Watcher. They weren’t a Watcher, which meant Grian was safe. Static filled his awareness as the rod slipped from his hand and he slumped onto the ground, his last view being the human rushing towards him, a concerned look on their face.

–––

Grian drifted into consciousness slowly. He figured he’d stay in bed a little longer… Custos wouldn’t really care, especially since they wouldn’t reach their destination for… 

For… Wait.

It took a moment for Grian to piece back together what had happened. He still wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not. He kept his eyes shut, slowed his breathing again, and waited, listening, to get any hint on where he was at the moment. 

It felt like there was a lumpy bed, maybe a cot, underneath him, and a thick blanket on top of him. The blanket smelled like someone else, but neutral enough that he didn’t really mind. When he twitched his injured hand, he nearly flinched, but it also seemed to be under pressure, like it was wrapped up, which… Was a lot more than he had expected, really. He hoped that they were just this nice and not expecting him to pay them back, because he had nothing to repay them with at all right now.

Speaking of his rescuers, he could hear them, towards what he assumed might be the front of the ship. They sounded like they were in the middle of a conversation.

“-if they wake up and they’re hostile?” A strangely metallic voice asked.

“Well, erh, I guess we could just… Tie them up and drop them off at the next planet? I mean, I don’t think they’d attack us though, they mostly just seemed scared, I think,” Grian recognized that voice from before. The human with the diasteel eye.

“I believe you,” The metal voice said, “I’ll go check on them now, actually, if you want to pilot?” 

“Yeah, okay.”

Grian willed himself into stillness, trying to keep his breathing even as footsteps approached him. They paused, not far away. 

“Hey- Uh, I can tell that you’re awake,” Metal voice said this slightly louder than he needed to, probably so that his crewmate would hear, and Grian felt mildly terrified now that the jig was up. 

He cautiously cracked open his eyes. He was inside the back portion of a small ship, on a cot pushed up against the wall. The inside of the ship looked very… Lived in. Despite its small size, there was what looked like a kitchenette built in the opposite wall, and some of the wall panelling had been painted in bright colors. It also looked surprisingly unorganized. 

Under the Watchers, a ship would never have looked like this. Grian felt incredibly out of place, but– it had to be the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

He pushed himself up with his good hand to lean back against the wall as his wings came up to shield him mostly from view. Through his black-dyed feathers, he regarded the person in front of him. They were an android, it looked like, which explained the metallic quality of their voice. They were tall, made of silver-grey metal, and had bright and faintly glowing red eyes. And they wore… A suit and mustache? They seemed unusually dapper for being an asteroid miner, but Grian can’t say he’s ever met one before, so maybe this is normal.

“Why, hello! We were just wondering if you’d wake up soon, it’s been about an hour since we found you.” The android had a friendly tone, and the posture to match. Grian’s shoulders loosened slightly, “My name’s Mumbo, he, him. It’s nice to meet you... ?”

“Uh–” Grian cleared his throat. Before he could continue, Mumbo had ducked off to the side for just a moment, returning with a bottle of water. Grian took it gratefully, wings falling away somewhat, and he didn’t realize how thirsty he was until the water touched his tongue. 

He had gulped down half of it when Mumbo tapped the bottle and said, “Don’t rush it, mate, you’ll make yourself sick.”

Grian reluctantly put the lid back on it, “Right, sorry,” Grian cleared his throat again, “My name’s Grian. He, him. Nice to meet you, Mumbo. And I am super grateful for…” He swept his hand in a general motion at the bed and water, “All of this. Really, thank you so,  _ so _ much.” 

Mumbo smiled, “Well, it’s no problem, you looked like you needed the help! And anyways, I wasn’t the only one who helped you– Hey, Iskall, you want to come introduce yourself?”

Iskall emerges from just outside the room. Grian thinks he must have been waiting there to make sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid, like attack Mumbo or something.

“Hallo, I’m Iskall, they or he. It’s nice to meet you.” Oh, wow, and he sounded unbelievably kind too. Grian was almost sure he was dreaming at this point.

“Grian. And yeah, you too,” He replied, moving so that he was sitting crosslegged on the cot. A thought popped into his head. Since his guard was down and he’d never been good at making reasonable decisions anyways, he blurted it out immediately, “Uh- You know I’m a Watcher, right?” And regretted it.

Iskall winced, “Yeah… Your pod had the symbol on the side, and I saw your mask inside,” He frowned, “Listen, we don’t want a fight or anything, we can just bring you back to your planet and–”

“ _ No! _ ” Grian said, a little too loudly for the small space they’re in. “No, no, nope, I’m good!” The pitch of his voice rose but he didn’t try much to stop it, “I’m not going back so- so  _ please _ tell me you didn’t tell any Watchers that I’m here, I–”

“Woah, woah, dude it’s okay! Breathe,” Iskall said, concerned, as he lowered himself down next to the cot. Mumbo quietly followed suit, hand twitching like he wanted to reach out, “Nobody knows you’re with us. You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to, alright?”

Grian nodded, taking a deep breath now that he knew they weren’t bringing him back to the Watchers. “...Thank you,” He sighed, slowly sinking back against the wall again. 

“...Alright, so, if not the Watchers– do you have somewhere else to go?”

Grian internally winced. “You can– you can just drop me off at the next planet you come to. I’ll manage.” The last thing he wanted to do was burden Mumbo and Iskall. He could figure something out for himself. Probably. 

Mumbo raised his eyebrows and exchanged a look with Iskall, who shot him another look back. Grian watched them go back and forth in their seemingly silent conversation for a moment before he interrupted, “Do you guys need to talk in private? I can just wait here.”

Iskall looked slightly sheepish, “Yeah, sorry Grian. We should probably make a call, but we’ll just be right up in the front, okay?”

Mumbo nodded, looking strangely excited, “Don’t worry, nothing bad! Just need to check up on something.” 

Grian just nodded, confused and slightly suspicious as they both went to the cockpit, pressing a button to close the door behind them. That was… Weird. Grian had been sure they weren’t selling him out to the Watchers, but that was suspicious enough that Grian almost felt himself doubting.

He shook off those thoughts. It was perhaps naive of him, but he trusted these two. If they wanted to be rid of him, they wouldn’t do stuff like… Wrap his injured hand, or put him on their own cot. He hoped not.

From the cockpit, he could hear both of them engaged in conversation. He tugged a little at the bandage wrapped around his hand as he heard them pause. A moment later, a new voice filtered in, sounding like they were speaking through a radio. The door must have been just thick enough, because Grian couldn’t piece together what was being said.

While he waited, Grian noticed the blanket that had been put over him. It was a well-worn quilt, blue and green and white, but with hints of other colors in the patterns. It was so– homey. Personal. It put a weird feeling in Grian’s chest.

It was only a few minutes before the conversation ended, seeming to reach an agreement. The radio-voice had disconnected by the time the door opened and Mumbo stepped out with a bounce to his step.

“Grian, good news!” Mumbo declared, beaming, “We have a place you can stay!”

“With some conditions!” Iskall called from the cockpit.

“With some conditions.” Mumbo admitted.

Grian’s eyebrows raised, “Uh– I don’t want to– to intrude anywhere. You don’t have to feel obligated to help me or anything, I could manage on my own.” He really couldn’t, but he didn’t want to burden these two.  _ Especially _ if the Watchers were to come after him.

“Nonsense! We have plenty of room– Well, not here, but at the place we’re going– I think everyone would be happy to have someone new show up, and–” Mumbo paused his tangent as Grian stared in confusion, “Alright, hold on, let me start from the beginning, erm…”

“Me and Iskall, we aren’t asteroid miners, really. I mean– we do take this ship out to do that sometimes, like now, but it’s not our job,” Grian tilted his head, wondering where this was going, “We’re actually part of a larger crew– but! Before I tell you about that, uh, I need to know if you actually want to go there. We  _ can _ let you down on a planet somewhere, but, you don’t seem to have any protection, or supplies, or– or anything, really, and we absolutely have space for you on our ship, so…?”

“Um…” Mumbo was right in that he had nothing. He still doesn’t want to be a drain on their supplies, but maybe he can pay them back later. Take some building jobs where the Watchers won’t look. It could work.

“If– if you’re sure it’s okay,” Grian acquiesced, to which Mumbo smiled warmly.

“Of course!” Mumbo clasped his hands together, which made a funny metallic  _ clunk _ . Mumbo’s demeanor shifted to one more serious, “Alright, so. Grian. Do you agree to respect and bring no harm to any members of our crew, nor to reveal our ships’ locations to anyone, under penalty of the wrath of Void’s entire collective crew?” Mumbo’s glowing eyes fixed on Grian’s.

Grian swallowed. Their crew must be big on security. Or, more likely, it was just because he was a Watcher. They weren’t well known on account of their kindness, after all.

Regardless, Grian trusted Mumbo and Iskall. If the rest of their crew was anything like them, then he wouldn’t ever put them in danger if he could help it. 

Grian stuck out his hand, “I agree to your conditions. I won’t bring any harm to your crew, not where I can help it.”

Mumbo’s seriousness melted right off as he took Grian’s hand, “Perfect! And that’s good because I’m pretty sure Iskall’s already setting our course back to the  _ Hermit _ . Our ship.” He clarified.

“We’ll be there in a few hours, so feel free to get some more rest,” Iskall called from the front as confirmation, “And welcome to the crew, Grian! We’re happy to have you.”

Grian smiled, a warm feeling growing in his chest. He was apprehensive, yes, but the curiosity and excitement he had for meeting a  _ non-Watcher crew _ far surpassed any nervousness. It had been ages since he’d been able to talk to someone outside the Watcher influence– what would they all be like? 

He wasn’t with the Watchers anymore, so, maybe he could just ask and get an answer?

“Hey, Mumbo?”

Mumbo glanced back from where he’d been looking in a storage container, “Hm?”

“Can you… Tell me about your crewmates?”

Mumbo’s eyes lit up. Literally. “Oh– of course! You already know me and Iskall, of course, and there’s our captain, Xisuma…” 

He continued to ramble about the crew, fondness evident in his tone, as he handed Grian a nutrient bar from the container he’d been looking through. Grian thanked him and scooted over on the cot so that Mumbo could sit next to him. Side by side, the two sat, Grian hanging on to every word as Mumbo described the colorful crew– Grian tried to keep up with all the names– Scar, False, Keralis– but the words started blurring together the longer Mumbo talked. 

After some time, Grian was listing sideways, eyelids drooping. Mumbo dropped to a quieter voice, but continued to talk as Grian slipped off to sleep.

–––

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! If you leave a comment I will cherish it forever <33


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